As the third largest city in Eastern Siberia, Ulan-Ude has no walls, only scattered houses. The area of the city is not large, only about five square kilometers. However, the urban area is divided into east and west parts by the Selenga River, of which the main urban area is on the east side of the Selenga River, and there is only a small urban area to the west.

Immediately after the end of the Battle of Kyakhta, the Russian army began to strengthen the defenses of Ulan-Ude. In particular, after Grand Duke Nikolai rushed from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude and took over the command, the defense of Ulan-Ude was rapidly strengthened. The dwellings were all converted into fortifications, and every street was densely covered with barricades and fixed fire points. There are no civilians in the urban area of Ulan-Ude, and in order to avoid civilians being harmed, these Russians have long fled to the countryside. Of course, even if there are civilians in the city, the squadron will use heavy artillery unscrupulously. The lives of Chinese soldiers are much more precious than those of these Russians. The Chinese commander would not be so stupid as to put his soldiers at risk in order to protect the lives of Russian civilians. You must know that the artillery of the First Army and the Third Army combined, with a caliber of more than 05 mm, there are more than 1,000 guns, and such a huge firepower is enough to turn Ulan-Ude into a ruin.

The Russian army has a lot of artillery, and the artillery of various calibers adds up to three or four hundred. It's just that these Russian artillery, in terms of shells, are far less abundant than Chinese artillery. The Trans-Siberian Railway was occupied by the squadron, and the direct connection between Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude was almost cut off, and even if all kinds of war materials were piled up on the Irkutsk side, they could only pass through the ships on Lake Baikal. Delivery to Ulan-Ude. Such efficiency. But it is far less than that of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The Chinese and Russian armies, totaling 5.6 million people, are concentrated in Ulan-Ude, where the largest battle since the beginning of the war will be staged. Not only China and Russia are paying special attention to the fighting here, but the rest of the world is also focusing on it. The countries of the Pacific Alliance all hope that the Russian army will be victorious. In one fell swoop, change the tide of the war that is now unfavorable to the Pacific Alliance. It's just that they also know that the Russian army is not only inferior in terms of troops, but also has no advantage in terms of weaponry and morale. In such a situation, if you want the Russian army to defeat the squadron, unless God manifests, there is no possibility at all.

Other neutral countries are also very concerned about this war. At this time, Germany and Austria-Hungary. Observer missions of the army and navy have already been dispatched to China. Get in close contact with warfare so that you can grasp the tactical thinking of modern warfare more quickly. Although the Austro-Hungarian army was rubbish, the German army was the best in the world. Although the world's largest army has not fought a war for decades, even if various exercises are carried out every year, the exercises are not wars after all, which makes the tactical thinking of the German army a little outdated. For example, the German and Austrian observation missions were very shocked by the equipment of the Chinese Army. The number of artillery pieces and heavy machine guns in each division of the Chinese Army has far exceeded that of the German army, not to mention mortars equipped at the platoon level and light machine guns at the squad level. The members of the German Observation Mission were so shocked that they even wondered which side would win if there was a battle between the German Army and the Chinese Army. Although the individual soldiers of the German Army may be more powerful, the firepower intensity is far inferior to that of the Chinese Army, which makes many members of the German Observation Mission build a domestic army one after another, immediately increase the armament of artillery and heavy machine guns, and have purchased design drawings of light machine guns from China to further strengthen the firepower of the German army, so as to maintain the title of the German Army No. 1 in the world.

On June 7, the soldiers of the First Army and the Third Army of the Chinese Army got up early in the morning. Today is the time to launch an attack on Ulan-Ude, although there is some tension and a little fear, but more than that, it is a feeling of blood boiling. After the implementation of the system of cultural instructors in the imperial army, the patriotism and loyalty of the soldiers were strengthened, and everyone knew the importance of this war to the empire, so even if they would pay for it, the soldiers had no regrets.

After breakfast, the quartermaster had already begun to distribute ammunition. On the artillery positions of the two army groups, one by one, the artillery has been deployed. A total of nearly 1,000 cannons with a caliber of more than 05 mm have been aimed at Ulan-Ude, and they can carry out a fierce shelling of Ulan-Ude just by waiting for an order.

The situation of the squadron's position also attracted the attention of the Russian army, and a large number of Russian troops, driven by officers, entered the position. Some Russian soldiers who haven't had time to eat breakfast have only given out a black ** loaf of bread per person. In order to be able to hold out in Ulan-Ude for a longer time, Grand Duke Nikolai ordered to save food, so the food of the Russian soldiers was also very bad. However, these Russians with a tenacious character, despite some resentment in their hearts, persevered.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the Minister of the Chinese Army, Cai Yun, personally gave the order to attack. The artillery positions of the two armies immediately began the shelling of Ulan-Ude. Clusters of orange-red flames flashed in the muzzle of the gun, and dozens of kilograms of shells, under the action of huge kinetic energy, flew towards the Russian positions in Ulan-Ude.

"Whew!" A shrill whistling sound sounded in the sky, the sound of a cannonball cutting through the air at high speed.

"Fast forward to the anti-artillery hole, the shelling of the Chinese has begun!" The junior officers of the Russian army shouted loudly. One by one, the Russian soldiers rushed towards the nearest air-raid shelter.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "Violent explosions sounded on the positions of the Russian army, the flames were everywhere, and clouds of gunpowder smoke filled the positions. The Russian soldiers who hid in the anti-artillery holes were huddled one by one, praying that their anti-artillery holes would not be directly hit by shells. Although the anti-artillery holes are strong, most of them can only withstand 05 mm caliber shells, and if they are hit many times, they will also be blown down, not to mention that the Chinese artillery is also equipped with a large number of 55 mm heavy howitzers. An artillery shell weighing 50 kilograms is enough to lightly destroy the anti-artillery holes of the Russian army and bury the Russian troops inside. If you are unlucky and are directly hit by a large-caliber shell, it will be difficult to survive even if you hide in the anti-artillery hole.

The heavy artillery of the two armies of the Chinese Army launched a fierce Russian army against the Russian positions in Ulan-Ude. The positions of the Russian army were completely shrouded in gunsmoke. One shell after another exploded, blowing up the fortifications built by the Russian army. The trenches were destroyed, the wires were blown to pieces, and some of the fire points of the heavy machine guns were hit by shells, and they were even more blown to pieces. Although the Russian army has carefully built the fortifications of Ulan-Ude, they cannot be expected to turn Ulan-Ude into a strong fortress like Vladivostok in the absence of materials.

"Your Excellency, the Chinese have launched a fierce artillery bombardment, please immediately move to the underground headquarters!" The adjutant of Grand Duke Nicholas rushed into the command and took Grand Duke Nicholas and walked out. Now the artillery of the squadron is still shelling the Russian positions on the periphery of Ulan-Ude, but there is no guarantee when they will shell the urban area of Ulan-Ude! In case Grand Duke Nikolai was killed, then there would be no need to fight this battle!

Grand Duke Nikolai did not object, and allowed the adjutant to pull him into the underground headquarters. This is a solid underground headquarters with hundreds of square meters of laughter and located five meters underground. After the artillery of the Chinese Army began shelling, all the Russian soldiers in the command headquarters were transferred here so that they could continue to command the Russian army in battle.

"Order the artillery, return fire immediately!" After the arrival of Grand Duke Nikolai at the underground headquarters, the first orders issued were all to order an artillery counterattack. In Ulan-Ude, the Russian army also has almost 400 artillery pieces. It's just that some of them are small-caliber infantry support guns, and there are only more than 200 cannons that can fight against the powerful artillery of the Chinese army. It's just that these artillery pieces are hidden in the city of Ulan-Ude, with some houses as cover, and scattered as much as possible to avoid being destroyed by the artillery of the Chinese army.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "At 20:20 a.m., the artillery of the Russian army launched a counterattack. One by one, artillery shells flew from the city of Ulan-Ude to the artillery positions of the Chinese army. The artillery positions of the Chinese army are also scattered, most of them are based on companies, so the counterattack of the Russian army only caused a few artillery pieces to be destroyed and more than a dozen artillery casualties.

At the same time, the artillery observation balloon, which had already risen into the air, began to report the position of the Russian artillery to the artillery below. The Chinese artillery immediately began a counterattack based on these directions. In particular, the two 55 heavy cannon battalions are a sharp weapon against the artillery of the Russian army.

For a time, a fierce artillery battle broke out between the two sides. It's just that the final result does have a mutual victory and defeat. Although the Chinese artillery has an absolute advantage in numbers, the Russian artillery is scattered and hidden in the city of Ulan-Ude, and the Russian army usually adopts the strategy of moving immediately after firing a few shots, which makes it impossible for the Chinese artillery to completely destroy these artillery, and can only use the observation balloon to destroy these Russian artillery as much as possible.

In the end, the Chinese artillery used 55mm heavy howitzers and 55mm heavy cannons to suppress the Russian artillery, and the rest of the 05mm light howitzers still shelled the Russian positions to clear the way for the infantry attack. But even then, Ulan-Ude was quickly in ruins, but under the bombardment of large-caliber shells, houses were destroyed, burned, and then in ruins. Chinese artillery, wanton bombardment, did not have any scruples at all. (To be continued.) )

ps: Today's three watches are completed! Thank you for the reward from the Eagle of the People's Liberation Army! Thank you for the evaluation vote of the name of the book friend Yu Sin!